[AT] "diesel" engines running backward

captneb captneb at agristar.net
Thu Feb 8 06:09:22 PST 2007


I recall the race in....'54?...  It was so hot, one driver simply drove onto
the grass, got out, sat down in a chair, and died.  They asked Vukky how he
did it and he said "Ain't nearly as bad as sitting on a tractor all day in
Fresno."  As I recall, he shot his car somewhere in Iowa.  It was the first
Indy race Dad took me to and like a good father he was using it as a moral
lesson for his boy... "Son, these are professional drivers and while they
drive fast and hard on the track, they are the safest drivers in America
when they are on the road...."  Well, Vukky had accumulated a fistful of
speeding tickets driving cross country before he got to where his car died
in Iowa, where he pulled out a revolver and emptied it into the engine.  I
presume it didn't run any better after that.  The whole family had its share
of the crazies.  I think Vukky's son and grandson drove too.  I think the
grandson died behind the wheel and the son had his share of lumps.
Somewhere around here I still have a photo of him in his Offy roadster.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Larry D Goss" <rlgoss at evansville.net>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2007 4:56 PM
Subject: Re: [AT] "diesel" engines running backward


> Billy Vukovich!  Now THERE was a driver.  I have a metal scale model Indy
> car patterned after the style of Offenhauser-powered vehicle that was
common
> during his racing days.
>
> BTW, Forty Acres and a Fool was a fun read.  There were a lot of
experiences
> in it that I could relate to because of growing up on one of those
aliquots.
> A lot has changed at the home place.  All that's left of the original farm
> land is the West half of the NW quarter of the NW quarter where I was
born.
> The rest of the section has been converted into a giant industrial
complex.
>
> Larry
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "captneb" <captneb at agristar.net>
> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group"
<at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2007 2:13 PM
> Subject: Re: [AT] "diesel" engines running backward
>
>
> > Was this the Field Marshall, or something like that? A guy here in town
> > has
> > one.  It is worth the price of admission to watch him start it.  My
cousin
> > Billy Vukovich ("The Mad Russian") once STOPPED his vehicle by emptying
> > his
> > revolver into it.  He was the one who coined the phrase when asked what
it
> > takes to win at Indy, "Turn left."
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Mike Sloane" <mikesloane at verizon.net>
> > To: "Antique tractor email discussion group"
> > <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> > Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2007 11:25 AM
> > Subject: Re: [AT] "diesel" engines running backward
> >
> >
> >> Speaking of which, I worked with a man whose family still owned a farm
> >> in India. He saw an image of a Field Marshal one cylinder diesel
tractor
> >> on a Web page on my PC and said that his family still farmed with one.
> >> It was stared with a blank shotgun shell, and they had to make sure
what
> >> the position of the piston when starting, or it would start running
> >> backwards. And you didn't know it was running backwards until the
> >> operator tried to go forward. I don't know if all that was true or not,
> >> but that is what he claimed.
> >>
> >> Mike
> >>
> >> dfolske at nccray.net wrote:
> >> > I wish my 88 had a problem with the fuel tank filling up when
running:)
> >> >
> >> > On 6 Feb 2007 at 7:32, captneb wrote:
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >>Lunchbox, a friend of mine, has an Oliver 88 that occasionally runs
> >> >>backwards.  He says the big problem is the fuel tank then filling up
> >> >>and
> >> >>overflowing.
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >>
> >> -- 
> >> Mike Sloane
> >> Allamuchy NJ
> >> <mikesloane at verizon.net>
> >> Website: <www.geocities.com/mikesloane>
> >> Images: <www.fotki.com/mikesloane>
> >>
> >> It's hard to argue against cynics - they always sound smarter
> >> than optimists because they have so much evidence on their side.
> >> -- Molly Ivins 1944-2007
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